In a sharp contrast from the not-so-distant past, it's suddenly very lonely for those politicians clinging to Canada's failed and counterproductive marijuana status quo.

With the formerly hard-line federal Tories now seemingly embracing almost-but-not-quite marijuana decriminalization, who is left to be the champion of the prohibitionists? Where is the politician who will pander to irrational intransigence of the drug war hawks?

Sadly, that politician can be found right here in Alberta. The comments last week from federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay only serve to illustrate just how regressive and out of touch - not to mention alone - Premier Alison Redford is on this issue.

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Youth outreach workers and counsellors say they aren't surprised an increasing number of young Albertans are seeking help to overcome addictions related to crystal meth.

Data provided by Alberta Health Services shows that 1,116 people between the ages of 12-24 sought treatment for meth-related addictions during the 2012-13 reporting period, a spike of 45 per cent over the four-year average.

Calgary police, meanwhile, also encountered meth more often in 2013, with 122 cases involving the drug compared to 90 the year prior.

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The public hearing into proposed changes to Mountain View County's Land Use Bylaw was held last week, with several members of the public at large voicing opinions on new provisions related to the future cultivation of medical marijuana in the county.

The hearing took place Feb. 26 as a requirement of proposed changes to the bylaw, which sets out rules and regulations for all variety of land use in the municipality.

The bylaw is being changed to streamline and update the legislation, as well as to bring it into line with the overriding municipal development plan. Work on the changes has been underway for several months.

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A former city resident charged with drug and theft allegations two years ago has launched a $750,000 lawsuit against city police.

Corey Maxwell, 50, had the charges against him withdrawn in August 2012 after police charged him with marijuana production-related charges stemming from a search warrant executed for an allegedly stolen XBox.

Maxwell had a Health Canada licence to grow up to 73 pot plants and possess up to 3,285 grams of the drug for relief of a chronic back injury.

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St. Albert's Move to Restrict Sales Upheld by the Court of Appeal

The City of St. Albert has scored a victory in its bid to restrict the sale of drug paraphernalia through a municipal bylaw.

Alberta's top court on Thursday upheld a 2012 bylaw which prohibits St. Albert businesses from displaying or selling more than two products from a list of banned items, including pipes, marijuana grinders or products displaying an image of a marijuana leaf.

Shortly after the bylaw amendment was passed in 2012, city officials inspected the Chad Smoke Shop 420, ticketed the store for a violation, and moved to suspend its business licence for five days.

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Alberta's Highest Court Says Bylaw Amendments Were Valid

The Alberta Court of Appeal has upheld the validity of St. Albert's bylaw amendments that were aimed at restricting the sale of items associated with drug consumption.

On Thursday, a judgment from three Court of Appeal justices was released and upheld the city's amendments to its business license bylaw that restrict the sale of combinations of certain products.

Under the amendments, businesses that were not otherwise exempted could not sell a combination of three or more restricted products, a list which includes pipes, bongs and vaporizers, products displaying a marijuana plant, grinders, a type of digital weigh scale or products marketed for masking drug effects.

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St. Albert Bylaw Upheld Banning Sale of Drug Paraphernalia

Alberta's highest court has ruled a St. Albert licensing bylaw prohibiting the sale of drug paraphernalia at so-called bong or head shops is valid.

The Court of Appeal of Alberta decision, issued Thursday, overturns an earlier Court of Queen's Bench ruling declaring the bylaw unconstitutional.

The three-judge panel found that the bylaw was within St. Albert's jurisdiction because it contains aspects of both the federal power over criminal law and the provincial power over licensing and regulating businesses.

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Operator Says He Spent $500,000 on Development

A Calgary-area greenhouse operator is being stymied in his effort to grow medical marijuana by a local council move to change the bylaw that would have allowed it.

Stan Swiatek applied to Health Canada last year to become a licensed medical marijuana producer following a federal law change that allowed private companies to grow the plants.

His application was near-complete and he had spent about $500,000 on the development when Rocky View County informed him it planned to change the rules.

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The first commentary that I penned 11 years ago this month for the St. Albert Gazette was entitled "Marijuana - The Fun Drug". Except, of course, it wasn't. At that time I called for the Canadian senate to take on an evaluation of the whole matter. I reckoned that it was a subject worthy of sober thought. It hasn't taken it up and some may wonder if the House of Senate is capable of having a sober thought so long as the PMO is in control of the puppet strings.

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Worlds collide in Stan Swiatek's smoke-filled office. Like many in this region of dirt roads and Denver Hayes, he wears a large belt buckle, drives a Ford F-350 and hangs an assortment of equestrian ribbons on his wall. There are horses in the back pen and a train of trucks towing hay bales up the driveway.

"You were expecting some kind of reggae pot commune?" he says in a du Maurier rasp. "I'm antidrug."

Within seconds of such pronouncements, Mr. Swiatek lights a cigarette and talks an hour at a single breath about plans to become a $350-million-a-year marijuana baron - the legal kind - a goal that has this rural community of commuters, retirees and farmers portraying him as a Pablo Escobar of the Prairies, certain to bring violence and gang infiltration should he make good on his ambitions.

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B.C. wants to ban the use of nicotine-free E-cigarettes in public places. Their reason? It might influence kids to start smoking. Gee, I'd hate to be the reason some 200-lb., 10-year-old who lives on a diet of fast food, pop and Grand Theft Auto travels down the path to fake smoking. How do they explain this logic to kids when they ask about all the people lined up to shoot dope at legal drug injection sites?

Mojo Williams

(B.C.'s anti-smoking but pro heroin. A bit of a headscratcher.)

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Illegal Narcotics Worth $14m Seized in 14 Months

Alberta's drug investigators have seized more than $14 million worth of illegal drugs in Calgary over the past 14 months, more than three times the amount recovered in Edmonton, according to figures released Friday.

Calgary's haul represented nearly 70 per cent of the $20.8 million worth of drugs seized by members of Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams across the province over the same period. Drug seizures in Edmonton totalled more than $4.1 million. "It used to be Vancouver, but now we're seeing a trend where Calgary is growing and now becoming a hub for (drug) distribution," said Insp. Gerry Francois with ALERT. "We're seeing drugs coming in and being distributed in the north, east, into the other provinces."

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Cops Have Seized $500 M Worth Since 2006

Alberta's Law Enforcement Response Team says it has seized over $500 million in drugs off of the streets since its 2006 inception.

At events in Edmonton and Calgary on Friday, ALERT announced that it had surpassed the $500-million marker in the wake of a few "significant" busts in the past year.

"Half a billion dollars. That's enough dollar bills that if laid end to end, would cover the distance from Fort McMurray to Lethbridge," said ALERT Insp. Dan Konawalchuk.

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Integrated Force Cheers $500m in Drug Seizures Since 2006

Law enforcement officials said Friday they have delivered a major blow to organized crime in Alberta, removing more than $500 million worth of drugs since 2006.

Since the provincially funded Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) were formed in 2006, more than $500 million worth of drugs have been seized, said its CEO Insp. Charmaine Bulger and Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis.

"Drugs are the currency of organized crime and taking that out if their hands and out of their business helps us to dismantle some of the organized crime that goes on in the province here," said Bulger.

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City Gets Ready for Potential Grow-Op Applications

The botanical arts city could get a little greener if a licensed medical marijuana growing facility opts to set up shop in St. Albert.

Here's one the marketing types overlooked when they came up with St. Albert's Botanical Arts City theme: Canada's Medical Marijuana Capital. Just kidding, of course, but that doesn't mean local government isn't preparing for the day someone comes looking to set up shop in this city. And local RCMP concur that putting a plan in place now is the prudent approach.

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The federal government's decision to turn medical marijuana production over to commercial-sized companies has left Central Alberta rural municipalities playing catch-up.

Both Mountain View and Ponoka Counties have wrestled with medical marijuana plant applications because they don't comfortably fit within existing land-use bylaws.

Residents in Mountain View County were upset when a building permit for a proposed medical marijuana plant was issued last October.

Under the existing Land Use Bylaw, Releaf Inc. was not required to apply for a development permit because a facility for horticultural use - which includes intensively cultivated plants for medicinal purposes - is considered a permitted use.

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With Health Canada's recent approval of allowing for people to apply to license to produce medical marijuana town council and administration are looking into the implications on the town's land use bylaws.

At the Feb 5 town council meeting. Councillor Bob Sobol pointed out that within the town's land use bylaw currently there is nothing to define what medical marijuana actually is,the use of the land and regulation.

Sobol asked that council provide direction to administration to research and prepare a report to council on all aspects including land use requirements of a medical marijuana facility.

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More than 100 residents and officials attended a Feb. 4 open house at the Cremona community centre to discuss a medical marijuana growing facility being proposed for the area.

All Mountain View County (MVC) councillors were present other than Reeve Bruce Beattie. Two Releaf Inc. officials and Todd Aasen from Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Develeopment (AESRD) were also there to answer questions.

Releaf Inc. is proposing the construction of a greenhouse facility north of Cremona where medical marijuana would be grown under Health Canada licence.

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The Municipal District (MD) of Willow Creek will continue its efforts to have more control over where medicinal marijuana grow operations are located within its boundaries.

Reeve Neil Wilson raised the issue for further discussion at the MD council meeting on Feb. 5.

The issue is that Health Canada will approve these operations without notifying anyone, including the local municipality or police. There have been instances in the cities where police investigate a reported grow-op and raid the operation, only to be presented with a permit saying it is for medicinal purposes.

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A safe injection site in Red Deer could keep drug users off of private property, according to the Central Alberta AIDS Network Society.

Jennifer Vandershaege, CAANS executive director, said on Wednesday that offering safe injection facilities should be in the future of local support for drug users.

"Safe injection programming in Central Alberta would be something we want within the next five or 10 years," said Vandershaege. "I don't think Red Deer would be first in Alberta, it may be second or third.

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